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NVTC Panel Event Demystifies Blockchain

On May 31, over 130 members of the tech community came together for NVTC’s panel event on the impact of blockchain in the federal government and commercial sector. The event featured Microsoft Federal Chief Technology Officer Susie Adams, IBM Public Service Partner Mark Fisk, DISA Innovation Leader Sherri Sokol and Accenture Federal Senior Manager Patrick South. KPMG Advisory Managing Director Ishan Kaul moderated.

Kicking off the conversation, panelists shared how blockchain and distributed ledger technologies are uniting proven technologies to solve problems, improve systems interoperability and drive efficiency across government and enterprise. Panelists emphasized the opportunities associated with blockchain across a wide variety of use cases — in higher education to food supply to aeronautics and more — including:

Driving operations efficiency through the unification of digital and physical supply chain management

Increasing data security and trust by enabling a single source of truth for all stakeholders

Improving supply chain protection and tracking

Enhancing scalability of business processes across multiple business lanes, operators and vendors

Speakers also identified some of the adoption challenges associated with blockchain, calling for:

New government standards for blockchain security

The development of new tech talent pipelines to foster the next generation of blockchain practitioners

More opportunities to engage stakeholders in blockchain to increase trust and buy-in

In looking to the future, panelists agreed that blockchain is a force multiplier for cybersecurity, process improvement and business delivery. Above all, according to panelists, blockchain technologies are driving unprecedented opportunities for collaboration among government and business stakeholders.